Fighting Men of the West. By Dane Coolidge. (New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1932. Pp. 343. Illustrations. $3.75.)After many years as naturalist, collector, photographer, andwriter of western fiction, Dane Coolidge has turned historian andhas sketched twelve of the more prominent characters who havefurnished background for his novels. And the sketches of thesetwelve men emphasize the fact that true chronicles of the Westmay be as strangely wild as fiction. Mr. Coolidge's decision towrite these biographical sketches, for the most part composed ofmaterial that he gathered from the subjects themselves, makesavailable the historical basis of his novels, and will interest manyreaders of history not attracted by his fiction.The first four chapters deal with noted western characters:Charles Goodnight, the trail-blazer, John Chisum, the cattle king,Clay Allison, the man-killer, and Tom Horn, scout and humanbounty-hunter. His accounts of the first two cowmen seem to bebased largely on the recollections of Goodnight himself. His storyof what happened when Clay Allison rode into Dodge to meetWyatt Earp, is exactly opposite of what Stuart Lake tells in hislife of the marshall, and if true, leaves a stain on the Earpescutcheon which Mr. Lake has polished so well. While Mr.Coolidge collected some new biographical material on each of thesefour, they have so frequently been the subject of feature treatmentthat they lack the freshness of the succeeding chapters.Of the remaining eight subjects, four are officers of the law.Commodore Perry Owens, vain but reckless long-haired Arizonasheriff; Captain John R. Hughes, the oldest of all Texas Rangersin point of service; Captain Burton C. Mossman, ranchman organ-izer of the Arizona Rangers; Harry C. Wheeler, one of Mossman'ssuccessors in service and in office; and the tyrannical Jefe deCordada, Colonel Emilio Kosterlitzky, unyielding captain of theRurales in northern Mexico-these are the vivid characters aboutwhom many valorous tales have been told. Burt Alvord, thesharply scheming Arizona outlaw, furnished the Arizona Rangersmuch of their trouble and gave Mr. Coolidge material for anotherchapter.Two mining men complete the roster, the most interesting ofwhom is Colonel Bill Greene. The long story of Greene's tragicbut hopeful search for a mine, of his strike in Cananea copper, of